PEDIATRICS
October 1, 1997
Richard H. Schwartz, Norman S. Miller
155 citations
MDMA (ecstasy) is a designer drug popular among American adolescents at raves and on college campuses, with an undeserved reputation for safety. Short-term effects include sweating, tachycardia, fatigue, and muscle spasms; serious adverse effects include fatal heat injury, fluid and electrolyte depletion, and dysfunction of the central nervous system, heart, muscles, kidneys, and liver. MDMA has been implicated in at least 53 deaths in the United Kingdom and at least five in the United States, mainly from heatstroke. It is a selective serotonergic neurotoxin. Toxicology screening tests detect MDMA with about 50% reduced sensitivity. Treatment of acute toxicity involves rapid cooling, rehydration, and monitoring electrolytes and organ function.
PEDIATRICS
August 21, 2012
Lynn T. Singer, David G. Moore, Meeyoung O. Min et al.
49 citations
Heavier prenatal exposure to MDMA (ecstasy) predicted poorer mental and motor development in 12-month-old infants, with motor delays appearing in a dose-dependent manner. Lighter-exposed infants were comparable to nonexposed infants. No effects were found on language, emotional regulation, or parenting stress. The study involved 96 women in the United Kingdom—28 who used MDMA during pregnancy and 68 who did not—and used standardized developmental assessments.
PEDIATRICS
November 1, 2006
Rüssel S. Falck, Linna Li, Robert H. Carlson et al.
19 citations
Among 2,437 12th-grade students in the Dayton, Ohio area, 4.9% reported having used dextromethorphan to get high at least once in their lifetime, and 3.7% reported use in the past year. Among 1,739 11th-grade students, 3.4% reported lifetime use and 2.4% past-year use. Boys were significantly more likely than girls to use the drug, while no significant differences were found between white and nonwhite adolescents. Dextromethorphan users were also more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol heavily, and use marijuana and other illicit drugs. The lifetime prevalence among 12th-graders exceeded that for several other drugs, including anabolic steroids, MDMA, heroin, crack cocaine, and Ritalin.
PEDIATRICS
March 1, 1970
Richard J. Warren, David L. Rimoin, William S. Sly
13 citations
Despite evidence that LSD damages human chromosomes in laboratory and animal studies and causes birth defects in rodents, its potential to cause birth defects in humans remains uncertain. Two infants with limb malformations after in-utero LSD exposure have been reported. However, other studies found nine children and one child exposed to LSD in utero who had no obvious birth defects, though chromosome damage was present. Researchers call for more data on all infants exposed to LSD in utero, whether or not they have birth defects, to evaluate the drug's teratogenic properties.